Around the Park - Friends - Back to Adelaide Shores

(Sunrise, FL)  Hi 81 Lo 55 -- We really like Markham Park, here in Sunrise, FL. It's part of the Broward County Park system. It’s a little pricey at $40 a night, but it's very difficult to find anythning for less than that in South Florida. (The price would be $30 a night if we were residents of Broward or Dade County.

We love Cuban food. We asked Jim's cousin Scott where we could get a good Cuban sandwich, and he recommended Romeu's Cuban Restaurant. We headed there on Saturday for lunch, and we weren't disappointed. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)


A Cuban sandwich has pork and cheese with mustard, on a flat roll. Served with dried banana chips on the side. So good!


We don't usually spend the money for alcoholic drinks when we eat out, but Jim has always wanted to try a Mojito, a rum-based Cuban drink. We splurged and tried one. It was very tasty!


We went to Sawgrass Mills Mall, the seventh largest mall in the U.S., to walk off lunch. The mall was very busy and crowded. The great majority of the people in the mall were hispanic, both customers and store employees. We were told they’re tourists, mostly from South American countries. They come to South Florida on vacation and do a lot of shopping. We saw a lot of carts full of merchandise.

We also saw this guy checking his phone messages with parrots all over him.


One of the reasons for coming down here was to visit Jim's family friend Karel, and her boyfriend Jim (yep, another Jim). :) We last saw them two years ago.

Jim and Karel, and Michael their adorable poodle.


We went to their house Friday evening, but on the way we drove by Jim's boyhood home in Margate. This photo is for his mom, as she hasn't seen the place in many years.

Sadly the old neighborhood has declined quite a bit since Jim and his family lived there.

We got to Karel and Jim's and the four of us went to Red Lobster for a wonderful evening of good food and better conversation. After dropping them off back at their house we headed back to the park. We had a minor scare when we got to the park entrance gate and found it closed and locked. Fortunately, the road leading out of the park was open, so we crossed over the median and went in that way. Whew!

Saturday morning we explored the area around the park. The first thing we did was walk outside the park to the dyke that runs along the canal behind our site. In all we walked about 2 1/4 miles, down a paved trail...



...across the water spillway that crosses the canal. (Jim's looking for alligators.)


... and up the path to the dyke.


The dyke goes on for miles.


From the same spot on the dyke, this is looking west.


And this is looking east, across the canal to our site.


Some more views of the Everglades from the top of the dyke.

This is the boat ramp at our park.

We didn't see any alligators, but we did see lots of birds.




Biking is a popular activity along the dyke.


There is a model airplane "airport" on the other side of the park. There was lots of flying activity on this beautiful, clear day. We stayed for awhile to watch. We couldn't get any good pictures of the planes in flight, they were just too fast. But this will give you an idea of the types of planes they were flying.








This park also has bike trails, walking paths, and lots of pavilions for activities. There’s something for everyone.

Saturday evening we went back to Karel and Jim’s for dinner. Karel’s Jim is a beekeeper and has four hives in his backyard. It was very interesting hearing all about the care of bees.


They also are growing some pineapples in their back yard.


Karel prepared a delicious prime rib dinner and we enjoyed another wonderful evening of food and fellowship.

Sunday we hung around home until early afternoon then headed to Karel and Jim's again for our final evening with them. Karel's son Ricky joined us. The guys watched TV while Karel put the final touches on a pork roast dinner. She sure is a great cook!

Ricky, my Jim, Karel's Jim.


At the end of the evening we were sad to have to leave. We said our goodbye’s with hugs all around and headed back to the park. It’s been a great weekend with our special friends. Thanks Karel and Jim for your hospitality. We'll miss you, but we'll be back next year!

This morning we leisurely hitched up and departed around 11am and returned to Adelaide Shores RV Resort in Avon Park. It was a smooth, uneventful trip. All systems are working well on Tumbleweed, so we're ready to start our summer travels in about a month. Here's the route we took:

See you in three days.